Thursday, August 7, 2008

I am Practically Katie Couric!

As some of you (particularly those of you gifted in the art of ESP) may know, I recently participated in the Great Interview Experiment, organized by Neil of Citizen of the Month. I interviewed Shiny of Shiny's Takeout. I'm embarrassed to say that I didn't fully appreciate the title of the blog until I started to write this up. Say it out loud and you'll see what I mean! I did immediately appreciate Shiny's email address, which is Shiny at not wearing pants dot com. There are not many people who show their sense of humor with their email address.

It was a lot of fun for me to check out his website, and I hope that you will visit it, too.

Anyway, heeeeere's Shiny!

If I were suddenly unavailable to interview you, because, for the sake of argument, I had to accept the Nobel Peace Prize, which of the following would you like to interview you and why: Barbara Walters, Kelly Ripa, or Oprah?

First of all, many congratulations on the Peace Prize. I hear it comes with a coupon for 5% off at Circuit City. Use your newfound glory wisely...

This is really a tough question: which of these three lovely ladies would I want to interview me? Would I want Barbra Walters, which would mean either a stint in prime time or an opportunity to spar verbally with Elisabeth Hasselbeck? How about the oft-watched Kelly Ripa, a woman I find beautiful, perky and stimulating -- and partner to an old fogey whom I could giggle at uncontrollably if I get him to say the word "rubbers" without him thinking of any double entendre?

But I think I would have to go with Oprah. Never really been a huge fan of hers, but apparently she gives away free cars every once in a while. I suppose I can't win if I don't play...

So, I am about to interview you and then I see that you've already been interviewed, with many excellent questions! How do you think it makes me feel?

It makes you feel cheated. You most likely feel like Bruce Willis when he was about to promote the film "Armageddon" mere weeks after another film about an impending space-related disaster film, "Deep Impact" had already hit theaters. However, your questions are different than the softball ones I threw at myself.

I haven't yet tried any silk boxers, much less those with the Superman insignia on them. I have nothing against Superman or what I'll simply call "Underoos for grown men," but I simply feel just fine in the boxers I have. As I've mentioned in my blog, I can be a large, sweaty man who craves a breathable fabric. I'd hate for the lil' guys to suffocate...

Are all the photos on your website your own?

It depends on which photos. If you're talking about the photos of my family and me, then yes -- I own those photos. But many of the other images you'll find on the site are taken through image searches across the web. I prefer to use photos allowed use by Creative Commons licenses, but I'll be the first to admit that I sometimes use images from the web without express permission. I have not yet received any takedown notices, however...

What is the book that you read from cover to cover and then wanted to hurl against the wall because it, well, sucked?

I was excited to discover that author Douglas Coupland was releasing a follow-up to one of my favorite novels, Microserfs. Released in the early 90s, Microserfs chronicles the journey of a Microsoft employee who leaves the comfort of his life in Seattle to move to Silicon Valley and work at a friend's startup company. It's written in a format closer to a blog format than anything else written at the time. His 2006 novel jPod was to follow a video game designer in Vancouver through the same writing style. I pre-ordered the book from Amazon expecting a similar experience to Microserfs. Instead, I found the book's self-referential nature to be insulting to the reader base -- whom Coupland knew would pre-order the book. I mean, he makes it so you have no choice but to skip meaningless garbage for pages on end! I was so pissed at this book.

Interestingly enough, the CBC, in association with Coupland, brought jPod to the small screen as an hour-long dramatic series starring, among others, Alan Thicke. And it's been a remarkable show. It was on for one season, but the fan base is pleading with the CBC to produce more episodes. If it ever makes it to DVD, it's certainly worth a watch.

Do you think that Jesse Helms had regrets about his political life?

No. I honestly think that he was doing what he felt was right. That he was answering a calling. Which is, in my opinion, quite sad.

They've actually spoken with each other by phone recently. I suppose socKs (my wife) has been frustrated that a girl I was majorly crushing on nineteen years ago influenced me to be a vegetarian and that the spell wasn't broken when the omnivorous socKs came into my life. But she's been wonderfully supportive of my vegetarianism throughout the years, even if she pokes fun at me for the reason I became one.

Personally, I think that the YouTube clip of Shiny Shows His Balls is awesome. By the way, if that is not you, please disregard. But if it is you, please tell me about the response that the clip received? Has your family seen it?

That is me. And I think it's receive a positive response. I mean -- what men out there don't want to show the world their balls? I still think that the crown jewel was me exposing what I've been treasuring since 1986. It's certainly something quite valuable.

As far as I know, my father does not read my blog. My brother is a reader, however, but he has not (yet) commented on this video. My five year-old son hasn't seen it, but he's more into YouTube clips which are more animated with less monologue.

What is the kid TV show that you can't stand? Love?

There are so many on both lists! Among those that I can't stand are Barney and Friends (too patronizing), Dora the Explorer (her voice just gets on my last nerve) and The Wiggles (again, too patronizing for me. And too repetitive. I also don't like the way they deal with Anthony's food/portion control issues. But I will concede that they're wonderful in concert...)

I'll give a shout-out to three kids shows that are quite wonderful: one is "SuperWhy" (PBS), an animated show which focuses on reading skills. But more importantly, it has a superhero named "Alpha Pig." How can you not like that? The other two are productions of "Spiffy" -- "Jack's Big Music Show" on Noggin and "Bunnytown" on the Disney Channel. They're both puppet-based and created by some folks who used to be part of the Muppet organization. :Jack's" focuses on musical performances in a very creative way, and "Bunnytown" is just silly and cute and obscure.